Burner ioniter



Oct. 25, 1927. I 1,646,503v

A. A. STEWARD- BURNER IGNITER' Fi1 ed Oct. .6, 1923'- TEE- | 11v VENTOR Alder! A. Steam/a0 Patented Get. 25, 1927.

UNITED STATES ALDEN AARON STEWARD, F RUTLAND, VERMONT.

BURNER rem-ran.

Application filed October 6, 1923. Serial No. 686,998.

The objects of the invention are to provide means whereby the spray of oil or other fluid fuel may be ignited; to provide an igniter which is in operation only long enough to ignite 'the fuel; to provide means for automatically placing the i iter in operation only when needed an to throw the same out of operation after it has served its purpose; to employ an electric igniter; to thus avoid possibility of escaping gas or failure of operation by a gas igniter which has blown out or otherwise has become extinguished; to provide means for-automatical y placing'the i niter in operation prior to injection of the uel to be ignited; to pro vide automatic means for putting the ignite! out of operation operated by the heat of the ignited fuel; to avoid waste of fuel; to protect the igniter; to secure simplicity of construction and operation, and to obtain other advantages and results as may be brought out in the following description.

Referring to the accompanying drawing in which like numerals of reference indicate similar parts throughout the sevefal views,

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic showing of my invention in connection with a boiler;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the igniter;

Fi ure 3 is a sectional view on line 3-3 of Fig. 2; and

Figure 4 is a 0 front elevation of the igniter :llpokmgin a direction from the bottom of In the specific embodiment of the invention illustrated in said drawing reference 4 numeral 1 indicates a boiler ofany desired construction. The particular variety of boiler shown herein is an air tube commercial boiler such as is' used in factories, for various power purposes, as well as for heating purposes where considerable steam is needed such as in hotels and apartments. It

A is to be understood, however, that the present invention is not restricted to this particular kind of boiler as the same has been se- 0 lected only for illustrative purposes and any one of the great variety of other kind of boilers may just as well be used as well as other commercial furnaces or applications of liquid fuel burners. The furnace of whlch 5 the boiler is a part is equipped with any the proper time.

suitable type of oil or liquid fuel burner by which the requisite heat may be obtained. The particular type of burner and the manner in which the same is 0 rated not forming an essential part of t e present invention need not be further described. Suf-. fice it to say, that I prefer to employ .a burner in WhlCll the liquld fuel isintroduced to the furnace under pressure through a nozzle 2. and that suitable shut off means are provided in connection therewith for discontinuing the supply of fuel when the furnace has become hot enough or has supplied the requisite heat as in the case of radiators used in heatin a room. .At the present time, so far as I ow, there are no adequate means for automatically starting up the fire again when the room cools down or other events take place requiring additional heat. In order to provide a pilot light which will satisfactorily ignite the 'incoming'liquid fuel when it is desired to start the fire,

I prefer to employ an electric element 3 arranged in the path of the incoming fuel and adapted to be made incandescent so as to ignite the fuel. Heretofore experiments have,

shown that an incandescentelement placed in the path of the incoming fuel will be so cooled that the filament is ineffective in i niting the fuel. In order to overcome t e cooling effect of the fuel, I prefer to partially enclose the electric element 3 in a suitable casing 4. I then permit the small portion of the incoming fuel to come in contact with the incandescent element for igniting the entire charge of fuel.

In view of the fact that I employ an electric current for heating the electric element,

I prefer to utilize some means by which the current may be automatically turned on at For illustrative purposes I have shown a thermostat 5 which might bearran ed .in a room where the furnace is used for eating the room and so timed as to close a switch 6 within the thermostat when the room. drops to a certain temperature. Thermostats have heretofore been used for turning on the fuel, and such being the case I prefer to employ a thermostat which will first turn on the electric current for heating the igniter incandescent element and then shortly after turn on the fuel thereby in- I suring sufiicient heat in the burner for ignitmg the fuel as soon as it is introduced into the furnace. It is to be understood, however, that there are Various ways in which the timing may be obtained for first turning on the electric currentand later turning on the fuel, and I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the methods suggested above- After the fuel has become ignited, it is desirable -to shut off the electric current passing through the igniter as .the same is no longer required until the furnaceis again allowed to go out. It is exceedingly important to be sure that the fuel is ignited before the igniter is allowed to go out. In

' carrying out this feature of my invention I employ a second thermostat 7 in connection nozzle becomes ignited it will immediately take effect upon thermostat 7 open switch 9 and thus break the circuit so incandescent element 3 will no longer be in operation.

Preferably the incandescent element 3 contained within casing 4 is wound around a suitable insulating and heat resisting core 10 so as to expose a considerable surface of the incandescent element some part of whichwill come in contact with'the portion of fuel entering the casing.* Furthermore, I preferably have the element 3 extending to the Very bottom of casing 4 so that any fuel which may flow to the bottom of the casing will come in contact with-the incandescent element and become ignited. For facilitating the flow of such fuel I preferably hollow out the bottom of the casing 4 so it will slope toward the incandescent element as clearly shown in Figure 3. "*Furthermore, the casin element. are preferably arranged an constructed so they may be removed conveniently from the furnace, or replaced therein. For thispurpose I have shown a pair of prongs 11, ll -projecting fromthe bottom of the casing which may be inserted in the usual attachment plug for connectingwith the electric circuit. Ihe prongs 11 and the attachment plug below casing 4 are prefer-- ably protected in any suitable manner from the flame, which may be accomplished by the flaring floor or bib 12 shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4.

' In order to introduce the requisite amount of fuel into casing4, I preferably suitably aperture the said casing. The particular position, size,.or number of apertures may obviously be varied to meet the varying requirements of different burners, and I have accordingly deemed it suflicient in the pres ent showing to provide a single aperture 13 directly in the path of the oncoming fluid. I have also shown the casing 4 as-rectangular and with a corner of the samedirected towards the nozzle so the fluid fuel will pass the said casing with least impedance. urthermore, the corner of the casing toward the nozzle is preferably higher thanthe opposite corner, the upper edge tapering rearwardly downward as clearly shown in Fig-' ure 3. It is also to be observed that the top of the casing is open which. gives ample outlet for the ignited fuel or gases of combustion after entryinto the said casing and ignition by the incandescent element.

Since the casing 4 is directly in the path of the fuel, I employ the same as a means for keeping the fuel ignited. For this reason I prefer to employ a material for the casing which will be beat resisting in the sense that it will not crumble, melt or otherwise be injured by heat, but will become incandescent or red hot under'the effects of the flame of the liquid fuel playing upon it from the nozzle.- The fuel is given more chance of becoming ignited by the incandescence of the casing by providing a plurality of grooves 14 on the exterior Wall of the. casing in which the fuel will lodge momentarily until ignited.

It is furthermore to be noted that a suit-' able outlet 15 is provided at the base of the casing through which the excess of fuel may drain in case too much is admitted throug the aperture 13. Preferably this aperture is at the opposite corner from the inlet aperture and is positioned at the bottom of the casing flush with the floor or bib.

In the foregoing description, I have used the term fluid fuel to include any combustible either in the pure state or adulterated or combined with other ingredients such as air or steam. Y and Obviously detail changes and modifications may be made in the construction, assembly and use of my invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention, and I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself except as set forth in the following claims when construed in the light of the prior art.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. A burner igniter'consisting of a laterally apertured upright box, a refractory body rising from the bottom of the box, and an incandescing element coiled around the refractory body the coil extending downwardto the bottom of the box so as to ignite oil thereon'before it can accumulate.

2. A burner igniter, consisting of a laterally apertured upright box having a concave bottom, a refractory body rising from the bottom thereof, an incandescing element coiled around the refractory body and extending to the concave bottom of the box.

3. A burner igniter consisting of a later- 5 ally apertured upright box open at the top and having its wall nearer the burner higher than its opposite wall and an incandescing element within the box. 4. The combination with a fluid fuel discharge nozzle, of an upright box formed with an aperture in its wall facing said nozzle, said box being formed with external oil pockets, and a wall nigh the nozzle higher than the op osite wall, and an incand'escing coil rising 1n said box from the bottom to a point above the lateral aperture, said nozzlepositioned exterior of the box and adapted to discharge the fuel at said aperture.

' In testimony whereof I afiix my si ature.

ALDEN AARON STEW D. 

